Always
by evrlrk
Summary: 'You go to the happiest place that you know to feel happy and calm. Apparently, the first place I will go to is Katniss's side' A one-shot after the ride back to District 12 told in Peeta's POV.


_Always_

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**Authors Note: This is a fanfic was a chapter story, however I decided that this will work better as a one-shot. Enjoy and leave a review!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the Hunger Games **

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I am Peeta Mellark. I am seventeen years old. I am the baker's son. I live in District 12. I like to paint and draw. I have blonde curls and blue eyes. I got reaped for the 74th Hunger Games with Katniss Everdeen last year. I won my games with Katniss Everdeen.

After winning the games and finally getting out of the Capitol, I lay in my soft bed in Victors Village. I can't stop thinking about Katniss. She thought that the star-crossed lovers from District 12 was all an act. I remember the first time I saw her; her dark hair in two braids instead of one and she wore a red plaid dress. Her voice was like velvet when she sang the valley song on the first day of school, and even the birds stopped to listen.

For me, there is some truth in the act. I have a crush on her, and I know she doesn't like me back and she never will. I guess boys like me don't work with girls like her. She has pretty much the hottest guy in school as her best friend or maybe even more than that.

I turn on my side, pulling the blanket up to my chin. I know tonight will be no exception, I will have nightmares.

"What are you still doing here?, Are you mad? Get up! Get up! Run! Run!" I yell. Instead of running, she just stands there looking at me like crazy. Cato comes barging in from the bushes and tells me to kill her. Then I do the unthinkable, I stab her with my knife.

I wake up. I sit in my bed, breathing heavily and sweating like hell. My blanket is on the floor from all the kicking. I was only a dream, a nightmare, I tell myself. I know I can't fall back to sleep, so I decide to check Katniss to convince myself it was only a nightmare. I pull on my pants, a shirt and a coat and head out of my door to Katniss's place. It's 6:30 am so I know Mrs Everdeen will be up making different types of medicine. I knock on her front door softly. Immediately, Prim comes to answer my knocks. For a thirteen year old kid that hasn't got school today, she wakes up early.

"Peeta, would you like to come in?" Prim says.

"Yeah, if that's alright. I came to check on Katniss," I reply

"She's in the woods I think. She said she had a nightmare,"

Well that makes sense. You go to the happiest place that you know to help you get over your nightmares. Apparently, the first place I will go to is Katniss's side

"Thanks Prim, see you later then," I say and head for the woods.

I walk to the fence, bordering District 12. I check to see if the electricity is on, by listening to the fence. It is something Katniss taught me. I hear nothing so I squeeze through a small opening at the bottom of the fence. I walk into the woods thinking about how I can find her. I've never been here in my life and I am not good at tracking. I figure that she would be hunting, but after about a mile of walking deeper into the woods, the birds stop chirping and singing. I find it strange until I hear an amazing voice. A voice that even the birds stop to listen.

**_"Deep in the meadow, under the willow_**

**_A bed of grass, a soft green pillow_**

**_Lay down your head, and close your sleepy eyes_**

**_And when again they open, the sun will rise._**

**_Here it's safe, here it's warm Here the daisies guard you from every harm_**

**_Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true_**

**_Here is the place where I love you."_**

She sits in a clearing in the woods. She looks like an angel sitting cross-legged in the lush green grass and the trees surrounding her in a circle. I walk as quietly as I can.

"You know you still need to work on your hunting skills," she says as soon as I snap a branch.

I grin and sit next to Katniss. She had tears in her eyes before she wiped them away as soon as I turned to look at her face.

"Did you hear the birds when you sang?" I ask with a infectious grin.

Katniss blushes and smiles.

"No, but that doesn't prove anything" she replies with her own infectious grin. Then she scowls, realizing that I had heard her sing and snuck up on her. She lays down in the grass.

"Nightmare?" I ask gently.

"You must be a stalker to know that," she says with sarcasm. I grin down on her and soon enough, she's grinning as well. She sits back up and tells me to lay down. I do as she wishes and she lays her head on my chest. I wrap a protective arm around her and ask what her nightmare was about.

"I would rather not talk about it," Katniss says slowly, as if her voice would fail her.

"If it makes it any better, I had one too," I say

"Do you want to tell me what your nightmare was about?" she asks, mimicking what I had asked her moments ago. I smile and decide to tell her. "Do you remember when the tracker jacker nest came down?" She nods in reply. "Well when I told you to run, like before, but you didn't. You just stood there staring at me. Then Cato came and he told me I had to...kill you. And I..I..did" I manage to get out. Flashes of my nightmare appear when I tell her that. She looks up at me with sad grey eyes and says "I am here now. It was a nightmare. Everyone knows you wouldn't do that." She gives me a peck on the cheek and whispers her nightmare in my ear.

"I saw Rue die again. Again and again. In different situations but all have the same ending. Like her being tortured by the mutts instead of Cato. I never got to save her in each one."

That explains the song choice. She told me Rue died and she sang to her. I don't know what to say, so I kiss Katniss lightly on her lips and stared into her endless grey eyes.

"Stay with me," Katniss whispers again, breaking the silence between us, her voice threatening to crack.

"Always," I tell her.

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**Review! :) I might do a series of one-shots but for now it's just this until I have time to write.**

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**It's all about everlark as you can tell and all the edits posted are all mine.**


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